Crash Settlements against Truck Drivers and Companies

Attorney Eric Hageman and his team at Pritzker Hageman have won substantial settlements and verdicts for our clients in lawsuits against truck drivers, transportation companies, and others. Some of our results include the following:

• $6 million settlement in a case involving a drunk driver and dram shop liability. Our client’s leg was crushed when she was hit by a drunk driver. The leg had to be amputated.

  

• $5.1 million settlement for a husband and father whose limb was crushed when an 18-wheeler hit his motorcycle.
• $4 million for a family with a wrongful death claim against a driver and service company.
• $3.75 million settlement in a case involving product liability. A defective part caused an accident that resulted in the amputation of our client’s leg.
• $3.5 million settlement in a case involving a child who suffered brain damage.
• $2.85 million settlement in a wrongful death case involving a commercial truck that lost a wheel, which flew into the windshield of a car, killing the driver. Our attorneys represented the family.
• $2.75 million in a personal injury case. Our client’s head was crushed, causing permanent brain damage, the loss of an eye and significant disfigurement.
• $2.56 million  for a couple whose car was hit by a semi truck and then collided at highway speed with an SUV. The husband sustained traumatic brain injury and serious fractures. His wife also suffered fractures.
• $2.46 million verdict in a wrongful death case for a family that lost a wife and mother of two children. She had been riding her bicycle when she was run over by a right turning semitrailer.  The insurer of the big rig refused to make any settlement offer contending the bicyclist was at fault. The jury returned its verdict in favor of the bicyclist’s survivors following an eight day trial.
• $2 million for the family of a 37 year-old male who was killed when his vehicle was hit from the rear at high speed by a garbage truck.
• $1.7 million for a Good Samaritan who was run over by a semi truck as he was standing by the road, helping another person who had been injured in an earlier collision. The man suffered numerous broken bones and internal organ damage.
• $1.5 million for a 36 year-old man who was run over by a garbage truck.
• $1.25 million for the family of a Minnesota bicyclist killed by a distracted driver.
• $1.2 million for a 50 year-old female who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury when the vehicle she was operating was hit by a farm sprayer that failed to stop at a rural intersection.
• $1 million for a bicyclist hit and injured by a tow truck. At the time of the incident, the tow truck operator had a warrant for outstanding traffic citations which he received while driving the company’s tow truck.

$5.1 Million for Man Hit by Delivery Truck

Attorney Eric Hageman and his team of truck accident lawyers represented a man who was hit by a delivery vehicle. The company was at first unwilling to settle, denying that the driver was at fault. Eric dug for evidence until he found enough to persuade the delivery company that their employee was to blame. The company initially refused to settle for a fair amount, but Eric aggressively pursued justice and ultimately obtained a $5.1 million settlement.

You can contact Eric Hageman for a free amputation case review here or call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free).

$2.56 Million for Personal Injury (Brain Damage and Fractures)

Pritzker Hageman attorneys recently obtained a hard fought $2,560,000 recovery for the victims of a semi truck collision.

The clients, a husband and wife in their sixties, were returning from a family reunion when their automobile was hit from behind by a semitrailer. The initial impact caused their vehicle to lose control, cross the center median and collide head-on with an SUV traveling in the opposite direction.

The husband suffered a traumatic brain injury and both the husband and wife had extensive orthopedic injuries.

The cause of the collision was hotly contested. The trucking company claimed the driver of the car allowed her vehicle to drift into the truck’s lane while the plaintiffs contended the semi-tractor drifted into their lane. Eyewitness testimony supported each claim.

Pritzker Hageman retained the services of an accident reconstruction and photogrammetric expert able to identify and map out tire markings from the automobile that showed it was in its proper lane at the time of the initial impact. Using that data, the lawyers retained the services of an animation specialist to create a short video demonstrating how the crash occurred.

In an attempt to not be outdone, the company hired its own reconstruction expert and an engineer who prepared a computer simulation of the collision using a software program claimed to be more scientifically accurate than the plaintiffs’ animation.

Eric Hageman attacked the scientific claims of the defendant’s engineer by retaining an expert in the same software program in order to prove the software program was manipulated to reach a pre-ordained conclusion. They also brought a motion to exclude the testimony of the company experts and the simulation on which it was based. The case settled the day prior to the hearing on the plaintiffs’ motion to exclude (which was only three days prior to trial).

In addition to the scientific and technical evidence, Eric Hageman discovered documents showing that the driver only had 4-5 hours of sleep the night prior to the crash and then altered his log book to make it appear he had slept longer.

$6 Million for Wrongful Death

Eric Hageman and Fred Pritzker represented a family after a fatal collision. The state patrol report said the at-fault driver had lost control of the vehicle. Fred and Eric wanted to find out why. After interviewing the driver, they found out that a dealership had serviced the vehicle before the collision. They found evidence that the vehicle had been negligently serviced, build a winning argument against the dealership and won a multi-million-dollar settlement for the family.

Eric Hageman leads our team of truck accident attorneys. He has been named a “Super Lawyers” by Law & Politics magazine since 2004. You can call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) to contact us and get your free consultation or just fill out the form below.